How Your Social Life Might Be Helping (or Harming) Your Brain

Evidence implicating social and behavioral influences, such as social isolation, with higher risk of stroke, cognitive dysfunction, and accumulation of Alzheimer's disease pathology suggests that healthy cognitive aging may be heavily influenced by social relationships, a largely unexplained modifiable risk factor that represents the combined effect of distinct functional (social support) and structural (social network) elements. We will examine the existing evidence supporting this association and discuss challenges and opportunities in its study.